Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Pantry Plan Wartime Wednesdays

In case you haven't figured out by now I have an obsession with old cookbooks. Not only do I collect them but I actually enjoy cooking with them. Luckily, I have several really good blogging friends, like Laura Rebecca, who enjoy cooking from their old cookbooks as well. So we always have something fun to share or a recipe from one of our "oldies but goodies" to swap. One of my oldest foodie friends, Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness, even cooks every week from The Victory Binding of the American Woman's Cookbook (VBotAWCB) - Wartime Edition for her weekly feature "Wartime Wednesdays".

In fact, it was this cookbook that first brought Stephanie and I together because I commented once on her Wartime Wednesday posts that I have my grandmother's copy of this book and cook from it fairly often.

Grandmaspritz

One of the very first food posts ever at The Sour Dough was from this wonderful look at the mid-20th Century gem American housewife that showed her how to stretch her food budget in times of rationing and high food costs.

Hmm... high food costs? Recipes designed to help the American housewife stretch her food budget? Sounds like just the cookbook The Pantry Plan ordered!

So, I'm joining Stephanie this week with a Wartime Wednesday offering of my own with Rice A La Creole from VBotAWCB Wartime Edition. I served it tonight at another backyard dinner for friends along with a recipe from Saveur that I will be telling you about later.

Wartime Wednesday Rice Ala Creole

Using some leftover rice from the fish dishes I made earlier in the week and some tomatoes from my garden, this was a very quick and easy dish to assemble and was a light and filing main dish. It would be the perfect side with a roast chicken or pork chops. I'm going to be making this again and maybe even add a few spicy ingredients and serve it with some Mexican or South American dishes I have been wanting to fix.

I have an odd feeling this won't be the last time I play along with Stephanie on Wartime Wednesday...

Wartime Wednesday Rice Ala Creole in My Grandmother's pie dish
The pie dish was my Grandmother's pie dish from the early 60's

Rice A La Creole

1 onion
1 slice, cooked ham
1 Tbsp fat (I used olive oil)
1 cup boiled rice
2 cups cooked tomatoes
salt
paprika
breadcrumbs (I used one of the garlic twists from my freezer)